We Americans love to tell ourselves myths about our independence and freedom, while keeping the horrors in our past out of focus and unexamined. My early childhood was one of great unrest in America: Vietnam, the civil rights movement, political assassinations. Yet even as I struggled with an America that was involved in a war that I did not understand (what child does?) or in policies that I despised, my grandparents and great uncles and great aunts were telling me stories of an America that I could not help but love. I remember my great aunt Rose and my grandmother telling me that Springfield, Illinois was “Gan Eden,” the Garden of Eden. (Yep. Springfield.) This year I wish my Iranian friends a future independence day with all the pain, adventure, mistakes, and work that come with it.
Abtahi Behind Bars
Over at Seven, Vahid Nikgoo has posted this illustration of Iran’s former vice president and chief blogger, Abtahi. Those of you who are Daily Show fans, will remember him from the Behind the Veil series from Iran done by Jason Jones.
An article by Thomas Erdbrink beautifully captures the transition from optimism to anger for so many in Iran:
For many protesters, the crackdown meant not knowing the fate of loved ones, as authorities rounded up hundreds of opposition members. Aida, a 22-year-old classical music student, was relieved Tuesday to hear that the name of her brother, who had been arrested while walking to the bus stop from work, had appeared on a list of prisoners.
Petite and elegant, Aida wears a green head scarf, a color that is almost reason enough to be beaten by security forces.
“I wear that color to show that we are still here, that the movement is not dead,” she said firmly.
Like many others, she said she thought Mousavi could ignite the process of reforming Iran’s political system, possibly taking gradual steps toward a broader democracy and greater civil freedoms. “We were realistic. No one promoted change overnight,” she said.
ad_iconAida had campaigned for Mousavi in the streets, handing out green ribbons and trying to persuade people to vote for him. For a time, she forgot about her cello, her favorite instrument. “The unity among the people was amazing. I never experienced anything like this in my life,” she said. “In the supermarket, people would smile when we spotted one another’s green wristbands. Total strangers suddenly understood each other with the wink of an eye.”
The first demonstrations that followed the disputed election gave her hope. But then protesters attacked a Basij base, and the Basij opened fire. “It was clear the outcome would not be changed,” she said. “I became afraid to go out.”
Maysam, a tall, slim 29-year-old whose father was killed in the war with Iraq and had achieved honor as a famous martyr, said he never expected to take to the streets to demonstrate against his own government. “My father died for the Islamic republic,” he said. “But if he were alive today, he would fight these people.”
When Mousavi asked his supporters to demonstrate on June 15, Maysam told his wife, his mother and his friends to stay home. “I was sure that there would be shooting. So I sat at home. But I couldn’t control myself,” he recalled. He ran outside, hopped on a motorbike and rode to Azadi Street, the locus of the demonstrations. “I needed to be there.”
Despite the reported millions who joined Maysam in that protest, hopes of overturning the election were crushed Friday when Khamenei made clear in a sermon that he would not back down. “The competition is over,” he said decisively.
The next day, at least 10 people were killed on the streets, state media reported, blaming “extremists” and “foreigners.” Protesters say pro-government forces opened fire. The violence has deterred further large-scale demonstrations.
In The GuardianShahriar Mandanipour calls for discussion between the generations and a review of the lessons learned from all of Iran’s accumulated revolutions and repressions.
But freedom was just a word to us, a slogan that we liked. We had no real concept of freedom. Soon, hundreds of political parties proclaimed their existence and, because we did not fully comprehend democracy, each was quick to accuse the other of affiliations with foreign governments. None of these political factions had a plan for the future. In tandem, hundreds of politically oriented magazines and newspapers were founded, each of which would publish articles in opposition to another publication or political party. It all escalated to the point at which opportunists grabbed control of power. And it all became what it all became.
Today, history is again repeating itself in Iran. My generation, all of whom are over 50, have witnessed our dreams falling by the wayside one by one. Now, the next generation bravely demonstrates in the streets. They are beaten up, arrested and tortured, and, when they are killed during police attacks, the government does not easily release their bodies to their families, who are often banned from holding funerals for their children.
The problem we Iranians have is that there has always been a gap, a great divide, between our generations. The new generation does not learn from the bitter experiences of the older generation and only winds up repeating them.
My comment on The Guardian article is that all around me I see young Iranians who have learned the lessons of their parents. My friends are talking of how this experience is closing the generation gap for them, not widening it. I see young people who are much more democratic than their parents, and older people who are much more democratic than they were when they were young. This may not be true of 100% of the youth, of course. But we can hope. Can’t we?
Free Shiva Nazar Ahari
We are reminded of political prisoners in Iran and specifically of the blogger Shiva Nazar Ahari who has been in prison for several weeks now.
Global Voices has a piece on twitter and Iran that ends with:
With all these things in mind, it is clear that Twitter is both a source of information as well as mis-information. It’s the people behind the screens that matter, as much as the people who report on what they are saying.
And, once again, I am excluding more than I am including. It’s all I can do to keep up with what my friends are sharing!
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